Sara Lance | The Canary (thecanary) wrote in madisonvalley, @ 2018-09-28 19:54:00 |
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Entry tags: | !closed, !completed gdoc, !log, [plot] wild wild west, ~2018 september, ~25 points, ~~dean winchester (boundtothehunt), ~~~~ sara lance (thecanary) |
Who: Sara Lance and Dean Winchester
What: Catching a murderer
Where: Outside the livery
When: Friday afternoon
Warnings: Character death
Status: complete gdoc
He’d made a stupid mistake and he knew it. He’d gone for the sheriff’s whore and he’d let her and the woman who had come to her rescue escape. He hadn’t gone back and gotten them later, somehow, and there wasn’t any way to get to them anyway. He was in trouble. They’d seen his face. They’d called for the sheriff.
He needed to act quickly, to get himself and Karolina out of town and moving on before he was caught, and that was the only reason he’d come back into town. His hat drawn low over his face, he ducked out back at the livery, hoping to get a pair of horses up for a long journey from this place. His own was too old, perfectly serviceable for riding in the area but if they were about to be on the run from the law he needed something younger and stronger.
His mind was full of what he was going to tell his daughter as he dragged her out of her lessons and out of town, some sort of excuse as to why it needed to be right then, something to soothe her fears away. Too much was suddenly gone wrong because he’d lost control. He didn’t hear the deputy coming down the road behind him toward where he leaned back against the fence, waiting for the man to come talk to him about the damn horses.
***
Sara was on high alert since the attack yesterday on the sheriff’s gal. The town was starting to descend into utter chaos and she knew that they needed to catch this guy before he skipped town, though if he was smart, he would have high tailed it out of here after Diana and Darcy saw him. They’d provided a decent description, so at least Sara and the others knew what they were looking for.
The livery was on her patrol route for today and she frowned when she saw a man leaning against the fence. He was about the right height and build to be the attacker and she’d seen him around town though he couldn’t recall his name.
She debated if she should go find backup before approaching, but decided she should confirm his identity first. Plus, she didn’t want to risk him slipping away. Instead, she decided to approach casually and see how he reacted. “Afternoon,” she said.
***
His shoulders tightened when she came closer, but he fought to keep his cool. He was in a dangerous position, being there at all, all the lawkeepers on high alert as they were. He knew he should just run, but she was there and it was too late, all he could do was hope she wouldn’t know who she was looking for.
So he looked up slightly, enough to show a smile while keeping his hat low enough to hide his eyes. “Afternoon, ma’am.”
And he prayed. God had no cause to listen to him, he’d done terrible things he would be judged for on a long off day if things went his way, but he could live in hope.
***
“Lookin’ to buy a new horse?” she asked, wanting to make some easy conversation and see how he reacted. Sara hadn’t missed his shoulders tensing when she approached and was on the lookout for any other signals that he was uncomfortable or being dishonest.
She also noticed that he didn’t look up enough to meet her eyes and that was enough to keep her suspicious.
***
“I am,” he answered simply. She was fishing for information and he recognized that. He couldn’t just run, though, wasn’t prepared to get Karolina yet and wouldn’t leave town without her. Poor girl already had no mother, he couldn’t abandon her. He needed to protect her.
“Thinkin’ of giving the tired old fella to my daughter,” he elaborated, and only a part of it was a lie. He was giving his daughter a horse, once he spoke to the livery man. Once he got a pair that would get them both safely out of Madison in good time before anyone caught on to who he was.
***
The mention of a daughter was almost enough to make Sara think that he couldn’t possibly be the guilty one. Why would a man with a family do something like that? An image flashed through her mind of this man with a young, blonde girl, both of them dressed all in black. It took a moment for her to place it, but then she remembered that he’d lost his wife a few years back. And, if memory served, his wife had been a slim brunette who favored the victims.
“That’s a nice present,” she said, trying to keep her tone even. “I’m sure your daughter will appreciate it.”
***
“She’s coming to that age,” Dean said, a small shrug attempting to make it no big deal. All he needed was for the deputy to be on her way, to not realize what was going on for long enough he could get the horses and go. He just needed to get out of there without raising suspicion. But he was spiraling, he was in trouble, and he couldn’t stop himself from adding, definitely judgement in his voice. “I’m sure you’d have no idea how quickly children grow.”
Maybe that wasn’t something to catch her attention, though. He could hope. All the deputies probably heard plenty of judgement from various people about their choice to work for the sheriff rather than have families of their own.
***
Sara’s antenna was already up and his comment only added to that. Sure, it wasn’t anything that she hadn’t heard before, but there was an edge to his tone that made her very uncomfortable.
“No, I wouldn’t,” she said easily. “I’m sure her mother is looking forward to marrying her off.”
***
His shoulders only tightened further at the mention of his daughter’s mother, and there was a darkness that crept into his voice when he answered. “We lost her mother.”
It was a loss that filled him with rage. Dean had never dealt with the loss, kept a brave face for his daughter and for society, doing the best he could for Karolina but his little girl wasn’t going to be little for much longer. She’d finish her education soon enough and then there was nothing he could do but watch her get married, watch her leave him alone.
***
That was the last confirmation that Sara needed she had the right man. He fit the description and losing a wife who resembled the victims was a solid motive. The fact that he was buying a horse led her to believe he was a serious flight risk, so she had no choice but to bring him in now.
Sara reached for her handcuffs as she stepped closer to him. “You’re under arrest,” she said.
***
“Under what charge?” he countered, not moving an inch, but everything in him shouting to fight her, to overpower her and to run like hell, to just steal the horse and come back later for his daughter. Dean couldn’t leave her behind. He wouldn’t leave her behind. She was the only thing that he had.
And he knew the deputy had plenty of cause to arrest him, they probably all knew his face thanks to those whores he’d made the mistake of letting live. And Dean knew she didn’t even need reason to arrest hm, that was the power the law had around here. But he wanted her to say it.
He wanted her to acknowledge that it had been him, and that he’d eluded them all for as long as he had, lived a quiet life between victims right under their noses.
***
“Murder,” Sara said. “And attempted murder. At least eight counts.”
There were a lot of women who deserve justice and she was glad to be the one to give it to them. She just hoped that he’d come along quietly for his daughter’s sake and not make her shoot him.
***
For one moment further, Dean was still against the fence.
In the next he was moving, fast as he could, turning to bolt down the alleyway away from her, his hat blowing off his had and he let it go.
He’d slipped up and Karolina would pay the price if he was caught now, he just needed to get them out of town. He needed to get himself away first, he could sneak back for her after her lessons let out for the day. It wouldn’t be unusual for him to not be there when she got home, he knew she’d just set about her chores like any day. She was a good girl. She wouldn’t miss him until sundown.
***
Sara sighed. Of course he wasn’t going to make this easy. “Stop or I’ll shoot!” she yelled as she gave chase. While she was running, she managed to pull her gun out of the holster while also holding on to her handcuffs.
She didn’t want to shoot, didn’t want to make his daughter an orphan, though it might not be a lot better to have a father in jail for murder, but she would if he didn’t stop running.
***
He didn’t believe her. Women weren’t hard enough to take a shot if they needed to, they would do no more than brandish a gun around and make threats. As long as he could outrun her, he could get away. As long as he could disappear from her sight without a man coming along to help her, he’d be fine.
Already he was recalculating his plan. He’d come back and steal the horses later, he’d get Karolina from home at sunset, he didn’t need to offer her an explanation, could think of one on the road he just needed to get her out of there, somewhere they could start a life together again.
Somewhere he could find a new pool of victims.
***
It was a fatal mistake for him not to believe that Sara would shoot. Steve didn’t pick soft women to be his deputies and it wouldn’t be the first time she killed a man.
“I said stop!” she yelled, giving him one last chance to acquise. When he didn’t, she aimed her gun and fired. She was going for his leg, wanting to simply bring him down rather than kill him, but running through her off and she ended up getting him square in the back.
***
He heard the gun a moment before the bullet ripped through his back, and for a half second, Dean was surprised. She’d actually shot. She hadn’t thought she had it in her.
The impact sent him flying forward, face down into the dirt road as he felt the air rush out of his lungs, had only a second to try to gasp as blood pooled within him, the bullet lodged somewhere deep inside before the life drained from him too quickly to hold on to any longer and he drifted out of consciousness. Only a moment later his heart stopped beating, leaving a dusty and dirty corpse lying in the street.
***
This wasn’t how Sara or anyone else wanted things to end, but she was relieved it was over and knew that Steve and the rest of the town would be too.
For now, she was going to have to fetch the Sheriff and the Mortician. And someone would need to be dispatched to find his daughter and break the news.